UK gives £50m to Bangladesh climate change fund

Sunday 7 September 2008 19.01 EDT
First published on Sunday 7 September 2008 19.01 EDT

Britain will give Bangladesh at least £50m to adapt to climate change in the first big attempt by a rich nation to stave off environmental catastrophe in one of the world's poorest countries

Other European countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as the World Bank, are expected to contribute to the new Bangladesh fund, which will be launched this week in London at a conference of the Bangladesh government and donor countries. Low-lying Bangladesh suffers from many climate-related problems, including floods, drought and river erosion, and is forecast to be devastated by climate change within 40 years. "A 30-45cm sea-level rise will dislocate about 35 million people from coastal districts by 2050," Dr Atiq Rahman, Bangladeshi lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will tell the British government on Wednesday.

"The climate is changing far more rapidly than anticipated," he said last week. "Bangladesh is experiencing climate-related natural disasters and extreme events like prolonged and repeated floods which have deadly consequences on agriculture and food security." In the last three years, Bangladesh has faced several of its strongest cyclones and worst floods. More than 3 million people were made homeless following super-cyclone Sidr last November, when nearly 30% of the country's staple rice harvest was lost. In addition, it has been plagued with droughts and the waterlogging of vast areas of farmland.

Bangladesh has pledged to contribute £25m a year to the new fund which, it is hoped, will attract nearly £100m within three years. Other global funds for poor countries are expected to be set up in the run-up to a new Kyoto climate change agreement at the end of 2009. The Bangladesh government has calculated that it will need £250m to adapt to climate change in the next three years.

"We are one of the most vulnerable countries in the world. We are getting much too much water in the rainy season and too little in the dry season. All this affects how much food we can grow," said Bangladesh's environment minister, Raja Debashish Roy.

The international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, said Britain and other rich countries had a moral duty to help Bangladesh and other poor countries to adapt their infrastructure, farming and economies to climate change. "The world now has a duty to rise to the challenge and ensure that we support the poorest people of the world - least responsible for climate change - to prevent and prepare for its cruellest consequences," he said.

The fund, which will be managed by British and Bangladeshi officials, will be administered by the World Bank. The money is expected to help farmers with new flood and drought-resistant crops, and with raising embankments and flood defences to protect homes.